We have been great admirers of Detroit, one of the biggest cities in electronic dance music’s history. A city that houses visionary creators with a longing to the future and outer space, creating a better place for themselves. Even if it was just in their imagination.

Blueprint

Obviously the first and second wave of Detroit artist’s sparked a new musical movement and helped creating a blueprint for the rest of the world. We probably missed out on hardcore music if it wasn’t for Jeff Mills’ early 90s techno or even the jazz-infused house music that helped form deep house from the likes of Carl Craig and Moodymann.

New generation

Although people a lot of people nowadays would link dance music to a predominantly white and heterosexual target group, it emerged from an Afro-American, Hispanic and queer scene. This happened in cities like Chicago, New York and Detroit. That was before it landed in Europe, where things took off and transformed in its current state.

Aarre

Fascinated by the musical heritage of his former hometown, Aarre is an avid collector of anything coming from Detroit. After we saw him play at Mandrill, which is also the home base for the SAUNA CLUB events, we invited him over for De Toko. When we envisioned De Toko and its possibilities for Maastricht, Aarre fits the bill completely. Focusing on local artists with a distinctive style is what we are all about in this cozy little shop.

Roy Habets

Who’s also an avid collector is Linke Soto’s Roy Habets, who makes his second appearance at De Toko this year. He has been mostly working behind the scenes, but loves to get back behind the turntables every once in a while. Especially for occasions like these, where he can also show his love for Detroit’s electronic music. We expect that it’s going to be an interesting ride through music history, when we bring Aarre and Roy together behind the decks on October 12th.